One week ago one of my twins was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. After some intensive care, and many IVs, she was on the mend, and the whole family was in the throws of diabetes education. Having been through this, I can honestly say that I don't wish this type of stress on anyone. I know of families who have had to deal with more treacherous diagnoses, and even worse outcomes, so I consider myself blessed to be burdened with such a manageable disease.
My heart breaks for this little girl who will have to take such a serious look at her food forever. No more can she absentmindedly nosh at a birthday party. Gone are the days of digging into a bucket of popcorn at the movie theater. Every gram of sugar (or any carbohydrate for that matter) shall be accounted for and treated accordingly.
We are taking the opportunity for all the different ways to calculate her insulin as lessons in math. Not just for her, but for her siblings as well. Lots of addition and division to consider depending on all sorts of criteria. It's going to be an adjustment.
We are trying to get her to understand that we need to treat this like an allergy (and at it's most basic level, it is), and be proactive in our treatment of it, rather than reactive. That's the hard part, since it has to do with food. If you're allergic to something, you just avoid it, or treat it after the fact if you accidentally ingest it. With diabetes, we have to treat every food like an allergen with carbs being the culprit.
I wish I could transfer this to me so she could grow up like every other kid. I wish there was an easy fix, but there isn't.
I'm sorry this post isn't as humorous as the others. I know it lacks wit, and sarcasm, but I just had to get this out. I love my children more than life, and I don't want them to suffer unnecessarily. This is not logical. It's not practical, and it's definitely not fair. It sucks.
No comments:
Post a Comment